lost cause
by YuzuhaMikoto
Summary: Born too late to change the past, born too early to protect the future. Riddled with guilt but harbouring an incredible motivation to at least work for a better future, I keep going. Self-insert Senju
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Born too late to change the past, born too early to protect the future. Riddled with guilt but harbouring an incredible motivation to at least work for a better future, I keep going. Self-insert Senju

Disclaimer: Naruto and all its characters are property of Masashi Kishimoto. I do not get anything for writing this other than a headache and a cramp in my fingers.

A/N: this is a rewrite of the original 'lost cause'

It was dark and silent. It was comforting. I felt like I was floating and nothing could hurt me ever again. In the silence, I didn't have to think. I didn't have to feel. I had no obligations or worries. Sometimes there was a gentle voice, in the far distance. It talked to me. I wanted to stay there for ever. Unfortunately all good things come to an end eventually.

I was ripped away from my comforting darkness, blinded by the sudden light and shocked by the loud sounds. Everything was blurry, I felt panicked. Never had I been so conscious of my need for air as now. There was yelling, there were panicked voices. I was put in something soft and brought away. This place was cold, the air was cold, dry. I wanted to complain, and voice my discomfort but I could only cry.

Sometimes someone would pick me up, talk to me in gentle whispers. I couldn't understand them but they all called me Saki. That wasn't my name,…I think. I don't know how long I've been away from my dark comfort, but I was slowly getting used to the outside stimulus of –what I later learned—was the family compound.

I rarely saw the man that held me when I got here. There was an older woman who took care of me though. She was nice and doting. She hugged me when I cried for attention, she cleaned me because I couldn't, she fed me and talked to me. At first I didn't recognise the language that was spoken to me, but in my head it made sense. I mean, I knew what everyone was trying to tell me, I understood them. If only my vocal cords would cooperate.

It was a couple of months in when I first realised what was wrong with me. For the first time I saw my reflexion. I was tiny, with chubby cheeks and short burgundy coloured hair. I used to be a blonde. My eyes that I remember as being green were now an amber colour. I was a baby. I didn't cry like one expected to do in such a situation. I was silent, and I remained so for the longest time.

The second revelation came in the form of my heritance. I had only just turned two and was mindlessly playing a strange form of hopscotch in the courtyard. My mother had died at child birth and my father was too busy to properly care for me, as compensation there were two ANBU assigned to protect me at any given time. I never talked to them, I was just aware that they were there. All the games they let me play were boring, repetitive, I hated it. around noon, the ANBU would be relieved of their babysit duty by two others. They were always the same, so I took it as my chance to explore.

The main gate of the compound was always open and unguarded so I simply walked out. I generally didn't see that many people. I saw tutors and my nanny, sometimes my great grandmother when she wasn't feeling too tired. So imagine my surprise when I was suddenly sticking out like a sore thumb in a sea of people. I kept walking, my geta making small sounds with every step I took.

The village was big, colourful and busy. People would smile at me when I walked by. Sometimes I could hear what they were saying about me. "What a cute little girl" "That's Saki-hime for you" I tried not to scowl. It was still strange to be called 'Saki'. I continued walking, I don't know where, I was just enjoying the small bout of freedom I had granted myself. I was surprised that my ANBU guards had not yet come to collect me. Did they not notice my absence? Or were they simply following from a distance without me noticing it, allowing me a small moment of freedom?

I bumped into someone, I apologised and continued with my exploration. Someone called my name, I turned around. Before me stood a girl with brilliant red hair, it very much resembled mine. Her eyes were blue, and she had a gentle face. I frowned, I recognised her. Just like I did with my great grandmother.

"What are you doing outside the compound Saki-hime?" she bent down to my height and looked me in the eyes. Why did I suddenly feel guilty about just leaving.

"Walking." I told her and turned around, hoping to just leave the red haired girl behind. I was picked up by the back of my yukata. I wiggled, kicked and yelled. I wanted to be released. Why did she pick me up like that. "Lemme go!" I continued with my feeble attempts to escape. somewhere along the line I lost one of my geta. In no time I was back home, one of the ANBU carried me inside.

"Senju Saki!" I stilled my thrashing and I was gently place on the ground. Senju, I knew that name. they were important. Inoue-san held me at arm's length, worry made her look older than she really was. I averted my gaze and crossed my arms. "What were you thinking?" she scolded me "We thought you were taken away." I bit my lip. How was I supposed to know that I was of such a prestigious clan when no one ever tells me anything. I lived here for two years not even knowing my own last name.

"Sorry?" I offered her and held out my arms. Perhaps a hug would make it better. It didn't.

After my little escapade I got a very lengthily lecture from both Inoue-san and my father when he finally returned home. I was the youngest Senju child, I had inherited the Uzumaki genes from my mother, I was important, loved, easily used for political gain. I wasn't allowed to go outside alone until I could properly defend myself.

The red haired girl, I later learned to be Uzumaki Kushina, regularly visited Mito-Baa-sama –who wasn't doing all that great—and before she would take her leave, she would visit me. Over the course of that year, I got started on my calligraphy skills, under the careful tutelage of Kushina-san.

Kushina-san started visiting more often, at least 4 times a week. Mito-Baa-sama rarely got out of bed anymore and I spend a lot of my time at her side practicing my calligraphy. The Senju compound was quiet, there was an increase in ANBU guards and there was a tension so thick it could be cut with a butter knife.

I was well on my way to becoming an academy student. Those silly little games they let me play were to enhance my fine motor skills, every morning I had to go through various stretches to increase my flexibility, I was started early on reading and writing and now Mito-Baa-sama was carefully explaining chakra to me.

"Can you feel it?" she put one of her hands gently on my stomach. I sat there, eyes closed, trying to grasp the chakra that was gently flowing through my body. It was cool but not cold, it was fast and gentle, I felt it and it was comforting. I nodded twice to let her know that I had found it. "There are 361 tenketsu points in your body, but I want you to concentrate on those in your hands." She had already explained that I would be doing the leaf sticking exercise. "now follow my finger alright?" I nodded once again. From my stomach, she moved up to my shoulder and down my arm. She went slow, making sure I kept my concentration.

When my chakra was concentrated in my hand, I was given my leaf, it stuck there for about three whole seconds before it feel back down. I looked disappointed but Mito-baa-sama smiled gently and put her hand on my head. "I think it's time for a nap. Don't you think?" I nodded and crawled next to her. I may be a little ninja in training but I was still only a couple of days away from being three. Naps with Mito-baa-sama always made me feel safe and loved.

I was heartbroken when she left. It was no secret that Mito-baa-sama was at the end of her time. She didn't have the luxury of waiting it out though, not with her being the container for the kyūbi. No she chose when she was ready, she told me she was and reluctantly I accepted this. I woke up early to see her off. Our last goodbye. She didn't come back afterwards. There was a village wide mourning day, but the funeral was private. Only for the few Senju that remained, the prominent clan heads and our Hokage. I tried to smile when Kushina-san took a seat next to me. I grabbed her hand and didn't let go.

At three years old, I was already able to read and write katakana and hiragana, I was already working on the basic kanji and was able to stick a leaf to my hand and forehead for little over 20 seconds. At three years old, I had also lost my almost always absent father. A mission gone bad. I seemed like the Senju really were in decline. He may not have been around all that much but when he was I couldn't help but feel as If I was the most important thing in his life, the reason why he was continuing his dangerous profession. For a while I was incredibly sad. Kushina-san still visited, there were still two ANBU guards stationed around the compound and Inoue-san was still taking care of me. Nothing else had changed at all.

"I don't think I want to be a ninja." Sarutobi Hiruzen visited ever once in a while, we would have tea and just talk but today it seemed like I had surprised him. I picked up my cup of green tea and took a sip. I used to hate it.

"Why not?" I frowned.

"My whole clan were ninja, we were strong and that's why There are only a handful of us left." I paused to take another sip of my tea. "I don't want to die." And I didn't, I was pretty sure I already did once and while I may not remember how or when or where, I knew that it wasn't pleasant. I was given this opportunity, I was going to grasp it with both hands and not let go.

"Saki-chan, " He put down his own cup and gave me a soft look, not unlike a grandfather would give to his grandchild. "The Senju were one of the strongest clans in the elemental nations, they died for this village, for their desire to achieve peace. I will not force you to join the academy but would ask you to at least consider." Hiruzen sighed deeply, it were moments like these where you could start seeing the stress he had to live with. After a brief pause he continued. "Your mother however was an Uzumaki, they were a formidable clan that unfortunately were wiped out not too long ago. I will not lie to you child, but the elders want you to continue their legacy."

I scowled. That made sense. The offspring of two very strong clans, both almost extinct. Of course they wanted me to join the ranks. Between the Uzumaki vitality and Senju healing skills,…

He must have seen my train of thoughts because he didn't stop speaking. "I said I would not force you but do not think that the rest of the elders will not. I am saying this because I do not wish to see you hurt." I looked down at my hands, so small and soft. How could I ever take someone's life?

"There are other career options you know. No one is stopping you from becoming a medic." My eyes widened and I grinned. That would be a good option, it would keep me relatively safe, I wouldn't be forced to kill and I was still an active member of the shinobi forces.

There was a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "I'm sure Tsunade-chan would love to help you." The rest of the conversation was light, about everyday things and with the promise of a trip into the village soon.

I hadn't seen Kushina in a couple of weeks, the academy graduations were last week, I was fairly certain she had been dealing with her team members. Children were graduating left and right because of the war. I just hoped I wouldn't be put in the middle of it.


	2. Chapter 2

Lost cause chapter 01:

 _The house was old, the outside looked rather plain really, just another town house. Except for the fact that there were two massive gardens on either side of it. I stepped inside. My 9 year old self was marvelling at the high ceilings and the old stained glass double doors that lead to the dining area. The kitchen was old but at least double the size of where we were living now. The marble fireplaces were something completely new to me too, I love it._

 _The garden on the right was in desperate need of attention. It was overgrown and there was junk laying around everywhere. The garden on the left however was neatly trimmed, a patch of mimosa trees in the middle and a big pine right in the centre of it. There were raspberry bushes and blackberry bushes on the side, three big cherry trees and an old concrete barn. It seemed endless. I liked this house. I wouldn't mind living here_.

I woke up a bit disoriented. That place in my dreams looked so very different from the bright, albeit silent compound that is my home, and yet it felt familiar. As If I had been there before. The shoji slid open, Inoue-san walked in with a bundle of clothes in her arms. I rubbed my eyes and smiled up at her.

"Ready for your fist day at the academy?" She laid out the clothes for me. A pale yellow short kimono, with matching pale orange obi and some white pants. There was no real need for wrappings or accessories just yet. I was almost hesitant to wear the kimono, it is impractical with its loose fabric, but I loved wearing them. I could manoeuvre in them just fine during my little training sessions with Kushina though –and those were always in my longer yukata's-.

I smiled. "Ready as I'll ever be Inoue."

For some reason, I knew what to expect when I entered the classroom. Not because I had been told about it but because I just _knew_. I was convinced that I saw a small blond boy in orange sitting in the seats and a black haired brooding boy or a girl with pink hair. But when I blinked there were only nameless faces. The classroom was fashioned in a way that the teachers were able to see everyone and still pack as many kids in as possible. With long rows of benches, each row just a bit higher than the previous, this was achieved.

I took a seat near the back, an aisle seat for quick departure and more leg space. I couldn't stop grinning. I was outside the compound, there were no ANBU hanging around, I was surrounded by other children my age… I looked around the room, observing, trying to pick out noteworthy characters. There was a Hyuuga boy sitting to my left, a Nara a bit further down if I was not mistaken and an Uchiha a bit behind me. There were no other clan kids that I could immediately pick out other than those three.

There were introductions, mostly the teacher to us rather than us to the teacher, then there was a general lay out of our day and week. Everything was going at a faster pace now that another war was right around the corner. New genin had to fill the ranks quickly. We started with Kanji in the morning. I was one of the few that had already started due to Kushina wanting to teach me _Fūinjutsu as soon as possible. Then there was an introduction to the history of the elemental nations. Followed by basic mathematics and lunch. In the afternoon we started with stretches and muscle building. Push-ups, pull-ups, running and crunches followed by a cool down period. For the girls there were the mandatory kunoichi lessons once a week and soon we would start working with weapons._

 _While that sounded cool, I was unsure whether it was a good idea to have 6 year olds handle and throw around sharp objects. Class rankings were determined by spars and test scores, they were updated every week. If you showed a lot of skill you could move up a class. They weren't here to coddle us. We were here to get enough skill to at least survive. For some reason it made me a bit nervous._

 _I shook myself out of it when my name was called from the attendance list. The uchiha boy send me a glance, as did the Hyuuga and a few others but I gave them no indication that I had noticed._

 _"Alright, let's see what level you are on. Follow me to the training ground." I cocked my head to the side but leapt up from my seat and followed our sensei._

 _I could have guessed that we had to take some sort of test but I didn't think it would be this exhausting. We were told to run ten laps around the training field as fast as we could, to assess our stamina and speed. This was followed by either pull-ups or push-ups and lastly a series of stretches to test our flexibility._

 _I had amazing stamina thanks to my Uzumaki genes but I wasn't very fast. I wasn't exceptionally strong but I could easily keep up with some of the weaker boys. I was sweaty and tired but I felt proud. I blew some of my burgundy coloured hair out of my face as I leaned back, grasped my ankles with some difficulty and held that position. I saw our sensei not in approval once so I let go and straightened back up._

 _There was something very relaxing about just showing what you could do. There was no pressure to improve just yet, no real competition because not everyone had the privilege to start early on 'training'. It almost felt like going to school again. I frowned. school. It sounded familiar yet new and bizarre. I shook off the feeling and continued with the rest of the stretches._

 _There was one boy that went above and beyond our sensei's expectations though. Hatake Kakashi was fast, strong and flexible enough to take the number one spot with ease. His name also seemed familiar for some reason. I couldn't help but keep my eyes focussed on that small silver haired boy._

 _"Inoue!" I ran towards my care taker and grabbed her hand, dragging her away from the academy building. I couldn't wait to tell her, Kushina and even Hiruzen about my first day. I knew that I was behaving like a true child despite knowing that I was not actually a child but it was exciting. It was important. It made me feel proud and special. Because I was the top kunoichi, I was years ahead of my peers. Not quite like that Hatake boy but he was a prodigy._

 _Already I was urged to move up a year or two. I wasn't necessarily sure if I wanted to though. It had been little over 2 years since I told Hiruzen I didn't want to become a shinobi. Tsunade had started me on some chakra control exercises almost immediately and I had progressed nicely. Of course I wasn't allowed to even touch the basic concepts of the mythical palm jutsu but my control had increased by leaps and bounds. The positive side to being an Uzumaki descendant: enormous chakra pools, the downside to that? Moderation, a small amount for me was almost half of the reserves of a normal child my age._

 _"He was late again Inoue! Can you believe that?" I babbled on happily with my care taker's hand in mine. Occasionally stopping to look at an interesting stall or store. I still wasn't allowed out of the compound all that much and If I was, there had to be someone with me at all times. mostly that was Kushina or Inoue. Sometimes one of the ANBU that was off duty._

 _Konoha kept being a mystery that I had to solve. The streets weren't neat and organised, they were made to confused foreigners. Market stalls were almost everywhere on the main roads –none of which led to the village centre though. That would have been too easy. The walls and rooftops were colourful, the people even more so. Despite the blandness of hair and eye colour that the population here seemed to be graced with, they were vibrant and full of life._

 _"An Uchiha boy? Late?" The brown haired woman that raised me laughed as if she had heard the best joke ever. "Are you certain his last name was Uchiha? And not something that sounded similar. I can't imagine any of those stuck up people even considering not being on time." Inoue may not have been a Senju by birth but she was one by marriage. There seemed to be a still ongoing rivalry between the two clans. More so with those that weren't born in them._

 _"Yeah I'm sure, but he's nice, we sat together today." I couldn't help but smile at the thought of the active and friendly Uchiha boy. He too sparked a certain feeling of recognition but I decided it would be better if I just ignored it. no use dwelling on things that aren't meant to be figured out._

 _It's been a month now, a lot that was taught in the academy were things that I was strangely enough already familiar with. Well the basic concepts at least. It gave me an unfair advantage over the rest of my peers. After a long talk with Hiruzen, it was decided that I would in fact skip whatever years or semesters they wanted me to skip and continue my training with Tsunade. There was no doubt that I would be nominated for an early graduation but under the guise of me needing the knowledge of an Uzumaki I was already promised to Kushina._

 _As our resident Jinchuriki, she was kept mostly in village, except for the occasional mission where they needed a lot of hitting power. And if there was anyone with a lot of hitting power, it was my soon to be mentor. She kept teaching me Fūinjutsu but it quickly became apparent that I had no natural talent for it. I only got this far due to sheer bull-headedness._

 _A/N: another re write of the original chapter, this is sort of a continuation of the prologue with the actual story starting next chapter. Soon to be expected: completely new chapters._


	3. Chapter 3

Lost cause: 02

At the age of six and a half, I was already a fairly tall child, almost hitting 130 cm so the age gap wasn't as noticeable when I was told to join the second semester class of eight year olds. No one really asked questions, just glanced curiously at me as I sat down in an empty seat. I smiled brightly at the few people who tried to talk to me. In stories, there is always so much animosity to people who progressed faster than others. here there seemed to be a sort of mandatory respect. After all, in the end we were all going to be working together right.

It wasn't unusual for people to take a graduation test before their time. Every semester, a new class started and every semester the older oldest class would get their designated graduation test. However, in between there were 2 other opportunities that weren't designated to a certain group of children. Anyone thinking they were ready could attempt to take it.

As far as I know, Kakashi Hatake had already graduated. We spend one trimester together in class. Although we never talked it wasn't hard to see that he was eager to move up in the ranks. It was never a good thing to let children grow up too fast, it wouldn't take too long for them to burn out.

I was going to miss that silly Uchiha boy, Obito, though. He was perpetually late, loud and a bit obnoxious, he didn't do that well in the class rankings but he had a good heart. He was easy to get along with and his friend Rin was equally as great. I wouldn't mind working with them in the future.

Now back to the issue at hand, my new class. All the theory classes were fairly easy to go through, I was caught up in no time. As for the physical aspects, I was no longer at the top of the class. Me skipping those semesters seems to have put me on more or less the same level as this group.

The workouts were hard, I was still one of the best on long distance runs but my speed was seriously lacking. Aerial weapon training,… well turns out I can hit targets if I throw as many sharp objects as I can in one go. That mostly had to with luck though because my accuracy was still pretty bad. Shuriken were harder to thrown than Kunai and I shouldn't be surprised by this. The weight distribution is completely different, as is the way to hold and handle them.

The movements seem a bit counter intuitive at first, you need a soft hand but need to create a light tension in your fingers before releasing it. or at least, that's what I'm understanding from all of this? I guess this is another case where muscle memory and repetition are the key.

Obviously my chakra control would be the best, with Tsunade still letting me work on it at home. It was a slow progress though. The Uzumaki clan, notorious for their immense chakra pools had shit control though. They could afford to burn through a fuck tonne of chakra time and time again unlike other people. Despite the slow progress, I kept getting better at it. Of course it would have been amazing if I were able to add Tsunade's Chakra seal to myself since it would solve the excess of energy when I needed it.

It was a weird way of thinking about it, the seal obviously left you drained in most cases since it had to store an absolutely immense amount of energy. However, If I was correct in my thinking and not overestimating my regeneration ability I should be able to sustain it with more than enough chakra at any given time, as well as keep my flow small enough for my control to be substantially better… I was only guessing though. Knowing me I was probably way off in my thinking.

-o-

"Can't you move me up to something cooler Tsunade-nee?" I scowled as I was once again presented with the same pile of twigs, pebbles and leaves.

"As long as you aren't able to hold all three objects at the same time in place, I won't move you up to tree walking." She sat down next to me, a heavy scroll across her lap, probably yet another medical text or something.

"As a medic, you need pin point precise control. This also means that you should be able to exert the exact amount of chakra required for different things." My brown furrowed, I bit on my lip as I mulled over her words. Tsunade looked up from the complex diagram she was studying and turned her face towards mine. "Saki, Say you are doing your normal clinic duty. There will be returning jounin with gaping holes in their bodies, but there will also be genin with a broken bone from sparring or academy students with immense bruising." I nodded slowly, sort of understanding where she was going.

"A bruise is easier to heal than a broken bone but said broken bone is more often than not harder to repair than a laceration." I nodded again. "You know what, go get a pen and some paper, I think this will end up being a long lecture." She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, rolling up the scroll and setting it aside as I ran to locate the required items.

By the time I had returned She had taken a seat on the edge of the wrap around porch, patiently waiting for my return. With a grin I sat down and held out the pen and paper to her. So far she hadn't really taught me anything related to iryo-ninjutus, only basic first aid and an introduction to the human body.

"Now pay attention kid." I nodded eagerly as I watched my aunt draw three rough sketches of a human body on three separate pieces of paper. She started with the first one.

"Say someone comes in with a bruise on their hip from falling down really hard. She filled in a big area around the hips. Assuming it was from a training accident, the force behind the blow would have been substantially larger than normal. Now do you know how a bruise forms?"

"Sorta, isn't it because blood vessels break?" Tsunade nodded.

"That's the simple way of explaining it yes. Say, a lot of blood accumulates under the skin, chakra boosts a ninja's healing immensely so obviously the vessels will be as good as new fairly quickly. But the hip is a very mobile body part so it could cause a lot of discomfort for those who aren't used to it yet." I nodded, remembering all the times Tsunade had to get rid of a particularly nasty bruise from my Taijutsu training with Kushina.

"Then we use our Yang chakra to speed up the process, helping the body get rid of the injury and helping it break down the red cells that have accumulated under the skin. This is the easiest part."

I couldn't help but wonder "Why use Yang chakra?"

"You can't just accept a fact can you?" I shook my head and looked up at her eagerly. "Well, let me explain the rest first and maybe then you'll get it. Now, lacerations. She moved on to the next piece of paper, the first one already rolled up into a ball and discarded. "A jounin returns from a mission with a deep cut on his chest from an enemy's kunai. An open wound, deep enough that it had required temporary stitches to keep them from bleeding out. In such a situation we use our Yin chakra." I was almost tempted to ask why but she send me a look that clearly told me to keep quiet.

"We work from the inside out, pouring our chakra in the wound and repairing the damaged areas. For example, the weapon had cut through not only skin but also muscle. We would start at the deepest point, knitting the muscle back together, then we move up, anything on our path that has been damaged we repair. Blood vessels, veins, until we finally come to the upper layers. Up until this point we have been using Yin chakra but If we were to just continue knitting back together everything like we were doing, this would mean that when the wound was healed, the skin would be stretched and easier to break once again. Healthy skin, has a certain amount of elasticity to it after all."

Tsunade paused, asking me for my input. I didn't have any, did she really expect a six year old to fully grasp the concept of 'magical chakra healing'? she sighed and shook her head.

"Anyway. With our yang chakra, we stimulate cell growth I suppose. We are sending a signal to the body to increase its regeneration rate. In some way we are creating new layers of skin. Of course in most cases there will be a scar, skin renewal isn't easy. You got that?" With a hesitant nod I looked at the paper again, imagining the scene. I suppose it made sense. Of course there wasn't any magic here like in novels and games.

"Now bone fractures. Let's say there's a clean break, that should be easy enough to start with. Bone is dens and requires pin point precision to get right. Setting a broken bone in theory isn't all that hard, the keeping it in place while you are healing it part is though. In most civilian cases, you put it in a cast and let it heal the natural way but ninja can't be missed for extended periods of time so we as Iryo-nin have to get them back in top fighting conditions in no time." She took a sip of her now almost cold tea and grimaced. Nothing was worse than luke warm tea.

"Much like when knitting back together muscles we just stimulate cell growth but this time with our Yin chakra, can you tell me why now?" The blonde looked at me expectantly.

"So Yang chakra essentially creates new things? while Yin chakra works with what already exists and just speeds up an otherwise long and tedious process?" I suppose it could be seen like that. I know Yin chakra is spiritual energy while Yang chakra is physical… huh it sort of made sense now.

When I looked up at Tsunade she was smiling and nodding. "Right you are Saki-chan. Now back to the break. It has to be precise, a misalignment of the bone could result in another fracture or long lasting pain. Now tell me why it is important for you to be able to work with different chakra outputs at the same time." Oh I see…

"Sometimes different form of injury go hand in hand and it's important to give the right treatment in case you make things worse..." I pursed my lips in thought. "You are a really good teacher Tsunade-nee!" I grinned and went back to the pile of material that was still laying in the shade of the tree we were sitting under earlier. Perhaps this exercise wasn't as stupid as I thought it was.

-o-

I no longer complained about needing to stick the twig, leaf and pebble to my person at the same time. Well not to my teacher's face that is. Behind her back I would stick out my tongue at her regularly in a silent –albeit childish- complaint. The moment I was able to complete the exercise I was told to stick more of them to my body all in different places. It was hard keeping the flammable objects from burning due to too much chakra output. More than once I had burned a hole right through the leaves because of this. When the pebbles would stick, the leaves would burn and the twigs would crack. When the twigs would stick, the leaves would smoke and the pebble would fall. And when the leaves would stick, well that was about it.

But eventually I got the hang of it, in a way it was sort of fun. By the time I was able to cover myself in little object of varying density and weight, another year had flown by. The tension between the great ninja villages was still incredible thick. At the moment, the war was already happening, mainly in the form of skirmishes. Tsunade and her team were send out more often now, as well as Kushina so I was often given a task to complete by the time they would return.

Every now and then I would catch a flash of the Hatake boy at the side of a blond teen. I assumed that was his jounin commander, as young as the man looked, there was a certain power radiating of him.

"Saki-chan!" I looked around, trying to identify where the call had come from. This proved rather difficult in a densely populated marked for I only found out when a certain Uchiha boy was already at my side.

"Obito-kun!" I grinned and threw my arm around the shorter boy in a weird sort of hug. I couldn't exactly give a proper one with my arms full of equipment. "Are your classes over already?" It wasn't uncommon for different classes to be over at different times. if you had taijutsu training in the afternoons you would always finish late because teachers never bothered to check the time unless everyone had their spar.

"Un, hey do you need some help with that?" he was already reaching for the multitude of packaged weapons I was attempting to bring back to the compound. When most of the heavy load was lifted I was secretly relieved. I prided myself in my strength –at least for the tender age of 7 and a half—but carrying heavy weapons made of metal all across the village wasn't fun.

We chatted on the way there, just about how our classes were going. I had gotten better at throwing kunai but was still struggling with shuriken, meanwhile Obito was started on his clan's signature Katon techniques. Rin Nohara would come up a lot in the conversation and I couldn't keep the sly grin off my face. He was just so cute.

When the gate of the Senju compound neared I sped up, forcing Obito to almost jog behind me. Despite not have been allowed to leave in the past, I was always immensely glad to be back, because this was home.

With a bit of hesitation, The uchiha boy followed me further into the maze that was my clans home. The main courtyard was lush and green with flowers and trees in full bloom almost all year round, the main house, -though empty except for Tsunade, Inoue and me—was well cared for and still as beautiful as it must have been when it was first build. It was my own little piece of heaven.

-o-

Fact: In the original draft, Saki (then Masa) was supposed to be the daughter of an Oiran from a small border village who had a little fun with an Uzumaki. She was a kamuro (or a sort of Oiran Trainee) that was picked up by Kushina after showing some good analytical thinking skills.

Fact: In the first version of Lost Cause, Saki was supposed to join the academy early but that seemed unrealistic and I rewrote it to something that would seem more plausible for a rebirth character. Hence the reluctance to actually become a shinobi

Fact: Again in the first version of Lost Cause, saki was a prodigy, this didn't seem right so instead she's just hard working. You would be surprised where a name could get you…

 **A/N: I hope my explanations made sense. I took a lot of time thinking about how medical ninjutsu would work and I think it sounds plausible enough. It has been said that medical ninjutsu requires either Yin or Yang chakra. Going by their natures I went with the most plausible place for them to be used in.**


End file.
